個案總覽

HCL Technologies Ltd., one of the big four information technology companies in India, had established a corporate entrepreneurship function within its enterprise technology office (ETO). As part of its aspiration to scale up its corporate entrepreneurship activities, the ETO had adopted an ecosystem innovation strategy, and in 2020, the ETO team was deliberating how to standardize and institutionalize its corporate entrepreneurship practices, enhance the platform technology, and build a culture of innovation to leverage the newly adopted ecosystem innovation strategy.

Guillaume Laverdure, chief operating officer at Medicom Group (Medicom), was evaluating a potential investment in a new facility that would manufacture melt-blown polypropylene (melt-blown PP), a key raw material for surgical and respirator masks. It was February 2021, and the previous 12 months had been eventful for the company, one of the largest suppliers of medical masks in the world, as the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a staggering increase in demand for its products. Raw material supply shortages had been a major problem during 2020, and Laverdure was exploring opportunities that would make the company’s supply chain more resilient. Laverdure was scheduled to meet with Medicom’s chief executive officer the following week to review alternatives and to make a decision regarding melt-blown PP supply.

By June 2020, the entrepreneurial, client-focused funeral home company Families First Funeral Homes & Tribute Centre (Families First) had expanded to four branches in the Windsor-Essex region of Ontario, Canada. Families First had served families across the region for nearly 25 years as it manoeuvred through the information era and dealt with changing dynamics in the funeral services industry; changing regional demographics; cultural elements; and the needs of its different stakeholders, including people planning their own future funerals and bereaved family and friends planning final goodbyes for their loved ones. Now, recognizing the need to enhance its technology—particularly in light of the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had heightened the need for greater technological features in the funeral services industry—Families First had to consider how to continue providing value to customers and develop a strong customer management and communication plan with the use of technology, incorporating advanced technological features into its customer relationship and growth strategy.

In February 2021, the owner of Anwal Gas Traders, a liquefied petroleum gas distribution company based in Sakesar, Khushab District, in the province of Punjab, Pakistan, was considering whether to invest in expansion. It would be the first significant expansion for the company since its founding in 1998. Based on data provided by a consultancy firm performing capital budgeting techniques, the company would integrate backward to take advantage of perceived market potential. The owner needed to determine whether this investment was worth making and how various scenarios would affect his decision.

In April 2018, Amit Darekar, director of operations at Hydropack India Pvt. Ltd. (Hydropack), was focused on revamping the company’s information technology (IT) infrastructure. This had become crucial in the face of a product design leak resulting from an employee who had left Hydropack to join a rival company and taken valuable data with him in the process. The design that Hydropack had made was for a tender floated by a public sector company. The rival company had submitted the stolen design with a lower bid, putting Hydropack’s own bid in jeopardy. Darekar now had to rise to the challenge and ensure that Hydropack implemented secure IT infrastructure and policy to avoid further data leaks in the future. His objective was to ensure that all of Hydropack’s data in the form of designs and other confidential documents was suitably protected and accessible only to those who had authorized access.

In November 2020, A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. (A&W Canada) had a difficult decision to make. As a fast-food chain with a track record on advancing sustainability issues, the company could not ignore the mounting public concern about plastic and packaging waste or the continuously evolving regulatory environment regarding waste in Canada. The company had already taken steps in this direction by introducing paper straws and compostable burger bags, for example. However, it was the large number of beverage cups that stood out as generating the largest amount of disposable waste. Regulations on extended producer responsibility were being introduced across Canada, although the details in each province varied. New materials were constantly being developed, which provided various potential alternatives. A&W Canada had to make a decision but was unsure what criteria to apply. How would this decision affect key stakeholders? How could the company make a more informed decision?

In December 2020, White House Industries (White House), a manufacturer of aerosol aluminum cans for deodorants and other consumer products, including sanitizers and pain relief sprays, received customer order forecasts of 30 per cent more than its maximum production capacity. Unless White House invested in a third production line, which represented a significant capital investment and required almost a year’s lead time, it would be unable to fulfil several customer orders with its existing manufacturing lines. Some customers had long-term relationships with White House, some were newly acquired, and some had a global-level tie-up with White House’s parent company. In addition, the demand from some customers was already large, while others had immense future potential. White House’s board and management team had different views regarding which customers the company should retain and which it should decline. This customer selection issue was a pressing and challenging problem that needed to be solved immediately. How should White House resolve its customer selection conundrum?

In May 2019, project managers with the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (Jeevika) in Patna, India, met to consider their role in creating farmer producer companies (FPCs) that helped poor agricultural producers access markets and receive fair prices for their produce, mainly litchi fruit. The creation of such producer companies was not a spontaneous process but often required a catalyst to harness community-based networks. While Jeevika, a project supported by the Government of Bihar and the World Bank, had been successful in alleviating poverty among those at the base of the economic pyramid, the project managers were now reflecting on the way forward for the producer company. Their overarching aim was a comprehensive understanding of the effects of their efforts on the community and the key variables affecting the sustainability of their efforts. They were aware that they could not support the community indefinitely, and they needed to consider how best to empower the producers to do this work on their own once Jeevika was no longer available. What new capabilities would farmers need to develop over time? How would the relationships between farmers and other stakeholders change when support from Jeevika was reduced or removed?

In early December 2020, the sales controller for Star Medical Equipment, Brazil, was working on the sales forecast for 2021. Sales in 2020 had been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but ultimately recovered, and the company had ended the year with about 7 per cent growth over 2019. Predicting the market demand for 2021 was uncertain, as the pandemic was not over and newer strains of the virus were afflicting different parts of the world, again and again. What was certain was that freight costs and transfer prices would increase significantly in 2021. If the sales controller attempted significant sales growth, the organization’s gains could be high; its success was uncertain, while a reduction in profitability was certain. He had to decide whether he should play it safe and follow global business guidelines to increase profitability or gamble with ambitious sales and market share growth plans for 2021.

In 2019, the head of leadership development for Anglo American plc (Anglo American), a global mining conglomerate, was reviewing the two years she had been working with the human resources (HR) leadership team to establish the company’s international Leadership Academy. Her task was to determine leadership development solutions that supported Anglo American’s strategy and to recommend how to resource, identify, develop, and retain the diverse talent pool required to achieve the company’s business objectives. She had gone to great lengths to ensure the Leadership Academy’s offerings underpinned the organization’s strategic imperatives. She now pondered how to assess the impact of the Learning Academy. Was the human resources leadership team looking at and measuring the right things?

A team of analysts at Nedbank Group (Nedbank) had generated a solution to an important client-centered issue, but the solution was not welcomed by the operations team. A business executive at Nedbank created an opportunity for the creative design team and operations team to collaborate. A solution was successfully implemented in 2019 and the executive and analysts’ team leader were summoned to present their ideas at a business banking executive committee meeting to demonstrate how their initiatives supported the bank’s strategic direction. Would the executive committee agree to invest capital in new ways of work to move the bank forward on its digital strategy?

Homemaking had been a centuries-old industry that supplied a variety of services to customers, from more commoditized tasks such as cleaning and laundry to specialized tasks such as elderly care, and prenatal and postpartum care. In China, this industry had traditionally been fragmented and associated with limited innovation. Homeking At Home Information Technology Co., Ltd. (HAH), a company founded in 2010, set the goal of transforming China’s home services industry in the digital age. Using an Internet-based operating model and a digital-first mindset, the company sought to reinvent homemaking, and grew from a startup into a leading player in the homemaking market in China. To sustain its success, the company needed to continually evolve.

In September 2019, the founder of a personal emergency response systems (PERS) company reached a pivotal point with her business. She had created the ORA device, a customized hardware and software product, intending to disrupt the growing PERS industry while helping to improve the lives of older adults and their caregivers. But while the product and the company received considerable positive feedback and publicity, sales had not met the founder's expectations. The founder brought plenty of experience, skills, and innovation to her business, and also identified an important new market segment for her product. Still, she was aware that technology start-ups were notoriously challenging to start, grow, and maintain.<br><br>The founder felt that she had reached the end of the line for her business and had to make a decision about its future. She had to identify opportunities and threats in the market and determine if the company had a sustainable competitive advantage. She also had to decide whether to focus entirely on the new segment she identified or make a new strategic move and raise another round of funding for growth. Alternatively, she wondered if she should instead sell the technology, or the entire company, and resume her executive position in the financial industry.

Since 2000, Infineum International Limited had been expanding rapidly throughout the Asia Pacific region. The company launched its inclusion and diversity program in 2009, which saw strong progress after 2013, when the company established its inclusion-first vision. From 2016 on, numerous inclusion and diversity activities were held to generate involvement and feedback from the locally engaged inclusion and diversity champions. In February 2020, the company’s global talent and learning manager shared his concerns about the company’s future inclusion and diversity journey. He had devoted time and energy in the past few years to organize activities through town hall meetings, leadership training workshops, and the company’s intranet, but hoped to make the inclusive approach even more meaningful in the future. What kind of measures should they apply to assess what they have done so far? To what extent should human resources actions be aligned with the inclusive culture? More importantly, would the current model of inclusion and diversity be sustained in the future?

In January 2020, Bombay Shaving Company had established an in-house digital team that was able to achieve the best digital marketing key performance indicators in its industry. BSC’s marketing strategy focused on conversion rates, influencer marketing, heatmaps, A/B testing, keyword cloud analysis, and emailer marketing. In using these tools, BSC was carving out a differentiated strategy for each step of the customer journey, including customer acquisition and customer retention. However, analysis of online purchase data had indicated that out of every thousand customers who visited the company’s website, only 13 ended up making a purchase. BSC had to address its poor conversion rate and determine how to ensure that its conversion rate would meet the industry standard.

After pursuing a career in finance, the case protagonist moved back to his hometown of Toronto in 2016 to pursue his dream of being an entrepreneur. An incident involving his diabetic father during a family vacation was the primary motivation for his decision to help diabetics by offering treats they could enjoy without worrying about the health consequences. Being inexperienced in the baking industry, he invited a food connoisseur to join him in this adventure. She advised him to revise his product strategy from being solely low sugar to being low sugar, vegan, and gluten free in order to stay on top of market trends and target more customers. The entrepreneur’s new business, Bald Baker, began in January 2017, and in April of that year it officially launched three of Bald Baker’s products at the Niagara Food & Wine Expo. Bald Baker’s treats at this and other consumer food shows were receiving very positive reviews.<br><br>The entrepreneur now had to make some decisions about the future of Bald Baker. To ensure the long-term growth and sustainability of the brand, should Bald Baker’s product positioning be low sugar, or vegan/gluten-free/ketogenic-diet friendly? How should he allocate a $50,000 grant toward Bald Baker’s marketing?

In January 2016, the founder and chief executive officer of Polycorp Ltd., near Toronto, Ontario, needed to decide whether to cut prices for products produced by the largest of the company’s three divisions, the mining division. Polycorp had become a global leader in providing protective rubber liners for mining mills. The liners were consumable products, thus generating a constant stream of revenue. The company’s mining division accounted for almost half of the firm’s sales, generated the highest margins for the company, and had the greatest potential for growth. It was also the costliest division to run. But the mining sector was in a downturn, with falling prices for various ores. With excess capacity in the industry, customers demanding price concessions, and competitors pricing aggressively, the founder wondered if Polycorp should alter its current premium pricing strategy for mill liners. Lowering prices would reduce the company’s margins, and lower margins would, in turn, limit the firm’s planned capital investments, which were needed for the company to sustain its growth and profitability. Could Polycorp sustain its premium pricing tactic in a marketplace that was becoming increasingly challenging?

Ashish Interbuild Private Limited (AIPL) was a mid-sized founder-driven turnkey fit-out firm based in India. The firm executed prestigious fit-out projects across the country, and it had been making steady progress every year since its founding. Faced with an increasing workload, Ashish Thakkar, the founder and managing director, had decided to change the firm’s operating model from an owner-led model to one that was people- and process-driven. To manage the transition smoothly, he had to decide on the most appropriate management control model for the firm. The two management control models proposed to Thakkar stood in stark contrast to each other, each with its own strengths. It was crucial for Thakkar to select the appropriate control fit for AIPL neither too tight nor too loose. An inappropriate model could lead to chaos, employee dissatisfaction, financial loss, a damaged firm reputation, and even potential bankruptcy. Although there were good reasons to pursue either of the two proposed alternatives, it was vital to determine which control system was best suited to the firm.

Concentrix Corporation (CNX), a technology enabled global business services organization, supported a transport solutions company with its customer management services. In June 2019, CNX’s global customer services operation manager carried out an assessment and found irregularities in the credit claim process for CNX’s client. The manager needed to reduce the number of irregularities so that CNX’s agents did not create a negative experience for the client. Random samples for audit revealed that existing guidelines and control procedures were ineffective in capturing irregularities. What strategy did the manager need to select a sample for audit that could capture the maximum number of irregularities within the allowable audit cost?

Dare2Compete was a global platform connecting students, professionals, educators, colleges, and companies through innovative challenges, events, and gamified hiring assessments. It catered to two markets—students and companies. For students, it provided information on competitions, and listed internships, scholarships, and hackathons. For companies, it was an employer branding consultant and recruitment service provider. Dare2Compete was one of the largest networks of college students in India. Prospective employers could discover, engage, and hire students through the platform, facilitated by competitions, quizzes, hackathons, business simulations, and case studies.<br><br>In 2020, after five successful years of operations, Dare2Compete’s founder, Ankit Aggarwal, believed it was time to grow and was deciding on a growth strategy to pursue for achieving his objective of doubled growth for Dare2Compete in the coming year. He was considering three directions for growth: penetrate further into the market, expand globally into new markets, or develop a new product for the existing market.